In issue 104 of Ombre e Luci, Enza Gucciardo, outgoing national coordinator of Fede e Luce Italia, described the radical changes proposed for the International Fede e Luce Movement. These changes redraw national boundaries and reshape the levels of representation (details appear in that same issue).
To make this restructuring real in Italy, the organization held its final national gathering—and first provincial one—in Cattolica in early June, well before the summer brought other national debates about labor contracts and regional symbols. Italy is now divided into three provinces: North Italy, Center (including Greece and Cyprus), and South Italy. Each has its own coordinator: Angela Grassi (Rho, Milan), Stefano di Franco (Rome), and Carlo Gazzano (Messina).
Two key changes stand out. Italy will no longer have a single national coordinator. And the Center region now extends beyond Italian borders, becoming in effect an ecumenical province—Catholic and Orthodox together. After choosing its coordinator, the new Center provincial council named their province "Kimata," a Greek word meaning "waves." The name captures what holds them in contact, the movement they need, and how varied that movement can be. The other two provinces chose their own names: "The Great River" for the North, and "Seas and Volcanoes" for the South.
For legal and administrative reasons, Italy must retain the structure of a single national association with a board of directors. This board differs from the provincial councils, and its operations are still being worked out.
At the gathering, the outgoing national council used drawings, mime, listening, and reflection to invite communities to embrace this change. Doubts and concerns naturally arise on many fronts. We do seem to lose something in dividing the country into three parts. But it should also make it easier for coordinators to stay close to their communities—which is the movement's founding principle.